Controlled adhesion glove

ABSTRACT

A glove is provided that contains a low adhesion layer to minimize the difficulties that can be associated with handling pressure sensitive adhesive containing products, such as pressure sensitive medical tapes, while wearing the glove.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Pressure sensitive adhesives are present on many products that are used in environments that typically require the person handling these products to wear gloves. Pressure sensitive adhesive tapes and other products are used for medical, hospital, first aid, athletic, and related applications. For example it is common for medical professionals to utilize such tapes to apply dressings or bandages to patients while wearing gloves. Another common example is in the use of intravenous needles (IV), which are typically attached to IV tube holders and these tube holders are attached to the skin of the patient with adhesive strips or pieces of adhesive tape.

Additional common examples of pressure sensitive adhesive products that are often handled while wearing gloves are electrodes, for example for electrocardiograms, adhesive coated surgical drapes, adhesive coated bandages, and athletic tapes.

An illustrative example of the difficulties that can arise when handling adhesive tapes, or other adhesive coated products, while wearing gloves is that of a medical professional using a medical adhesive tape to apply a dressing to a patient.

Typically when preparing a piece of tape for use by cutting or tearing a piece of the tape from a roll of the tape, a portion of at least one end of the piece of tape is held between the thumb and forefinger of the gloved hand of the person handling the tape. In grasping the tape to remove a piece of tape from a roll of the tape and position it for the intended application it is typical that either the thumb or forefinger, of the gloved hand, is pressed into contact with the pressure sensitive adhesive thus creating an adhesive bond between the pressure sensitive adhesive and the material of the glove. This can lead to several problems. One such problem is that the pressure sensitive adhesive of the tape adheres to the material of the glove to an extent that the glove can be distorted or torn when attempting to break the adhesive bond formed between the pressure sensitive adhesive of the tape and the surface of the glove, which is created when the glove contacts the pressure sensitive adhesive of the tape.

Due to the highly flexible nature of typical medical tapes it sometime happens that the piece of tape, once separated from the roll of tape and still held by the gloved hand, flexes, causing areas of the adhesive to come into unintended contact with the glove. For example, the piece of tape that is being held by one end, between the thumb and fore finger of a gloved hand, can fold or flex in a manner that causes the adhesive to contact the glove in another area, such as the back of the fore finger or another finger on the same hand. When this happens it is very difficult to remove the tape from the glove and the end result is usually that the piece of tape and the glove are ruined and discarded together. When a piece of tape does come into inadvertent contact with unintended areas of a glove, the difficulty in removing the tape from the glove is exacerbated by the difficulty of grasping the tape to initiate peeling it away from the glove with the other gloved hand. This is particularly true if the end of the piece of tape opposite the end initially grasped between the forefinger and the thumb comes into contact with the glove. This is due to the difficulty that can arise in grasping this second end with the other hand if the other hand is also gloved.

Sometimes during the act of tearing or cutting a piece of tape from a roll of tape the tape flexes in such a way that the pressure-sensitive adhesive folds onto itself. When this happens to the person handling the tape typically attempts to break the adhesive to adhesive bond that is formed by attempting to peel open this bond. As such adhesive to adhesive bonds can be relatively aggressive it is necessary to hold onto the tape with a firm grip when attempting to open such an inadvertent adhesive to adhesive bond. Thus if this is done while wearing gloves the act of gripping the tape more firmly, to enable breaking such an inadvertent adhesive to adhesive bond, the bond of the glove to the adhesive where the tape is grasped is increased due to the increased pressure. This increased pressure can cause the bond of the tape to the glove to increase, thus increasing the likelihood of glove damage when attempting to break the pressure sensitive adhesive to glove bond. The act of trying to break such an inadvertent adhesive to adhesive bond can also increase the likelihood of having some part of the adhesive contact the glove in unintended areas.

The difficulties described above can be even more common and difficult if rather than the roll of tape being in a dispenser, or if scissors are used to cut the piece of tape from the roll, the tape is the type that is intended to be torn to remove pieces of tape from the roll, as is sometimes the case with tapes intended for use for applying wound dressings or athletic tapes used by trainers. In such cases to initiate tearing of the tape it is often unwound from the roll, by grasping the free end with one gloved hand and when the desired length is unwound the bond between the glove and the pressure sensitive adhesive of the tape is broken by pulling the tape away from the glove and then both gloved hands are used to grasp the tape, one on each side of where the tear will be made, to carry out the act of tearing the tape to yield the desired loose piece of tape. In such cases both gloved hands are in contact with the pressure sensitive adhesive of the tape and the likelihood of inadvertent contact of the pressure sensitive adhesive with some unintended area of one of the gloves in increased.

Additionally the problems described above can be even more inconvenient in a situation where the person handling the tape is in a rushed or hurried state, as can be the case in emergency medical care or trainers applying tape during an athletic event.

The difficulties described above that can arise when handling pressure sensitive adhesive tapes can also arise when handling other pressure sensitive adhesive coated products such as electrodes and bandages, while wearing gloves. In such products while it is not typically necessary to cut or tear a piece of the material for use it is typically necessary to remove a piece of liner material that protects the adhesive in the package, which can lead to the kind of untoward contact of the adhesive to the glove as described above for pressure sensitive adhesive tapes.

An additional important aspect of medical gloves, and other disposable gloves, is that they must not have a tendency to transfer material to the surface of any pressure sensitive adhesive that comes into contact, either intentional or unintentional, with the outside surface of the glove. Otherwise the performance of the pressure sensitive adhesive can be significantly deteriorated due to contamination of the surface of the adhesive by any material transferred from the releases surface.

U.S. Pat. Appl. No. 2003/0118837, by Modha et. al, discloses elastomeric gloves having improved donnability. The improved donnability is achieved by supplying a donning layer containing waterborne polyurethane and a lubricant formed from a silicone emulsion to the inner surface of the glove. Additionally an optional outer layer, which may include a silicone emulsion, is added to improve the gripping characteristics of the glove.

U.S. Pat. Appl. No. 2003/0118761, by Triebes et. al, discloses elastomeric articles, including gloves, that have a chemical protection layer that will not substantially dissolve when exposed to certain chemicals and solvents. The chemical protection layer contains a cross-linked, modified silicone elastomer.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,302,852, issued to Joung on Dec. 1, 1981, discloses hypoallergenic slip resistant gloves. These gloves contain an inner barrier glove of a nonallergenic elastomer, which can be a room temperature vulcanizing silicone. This patent also discloses that this same silicone on the outer surface of the glove provides increased slip resistance over natural latex gloves.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,571,219, issued to Gorton on Nov. 5, 1996, teaches a coating composition and articles, such as medical gloves, prepared with this coating composition. This composition yields unique properties in terms of good donning and doffing, good manipulation and finger sensitivity, and better aging characteristics than normal products. The composition taught contains polysiloxane.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,922, issued to Hassan et. al. on Feb. 1, 2000 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,378,137 issued to Hassan et. al. on Apr. 30, 2002, teaches a powder free medical glove having on the outer side a silicone treated surface and an inner surface of an antiblocking composition.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,709 issued to Miller et. al. on Dec. 6, 1977, teaches a method of manufacturing silicone rubber gloves with a non-blocking surface by repeatedly dipping a form in a solvent dispersion of uncured silicone rubber to build up a plurality of layers and then forming a layer of liquid droplets on the surface of the solvent-containing uncured rubber, thereby forming a textured surface as the solvent evaporates.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,254,947 and 6,440,498 issued to Schaller on Jul. 3, 2001 and Aug. 27, 2002, respectively, teach a glove comprised of a flexible rubber which has at least one section of the surface intended to contact human skin, i.e. the inside, comprising a slip coating comprising a polymeric material and repeated shape deviations of the surface. The object of this slip coating is to aid in glove donning and comfort.

There are numerous U.S. Patents and Patent Applications that include a silicone material on the inside of the glove to aid in glove donning. Examples include U.S. Pat. No 5,284,607 issued to Chen on Feb. 8, 1994, and U.S. Pat. Appl. No 2002/0009561 by Weikel et. al.

U.S. Pat. Appl. No 2003/0226191, by Modha and Kister, teaches a glove that contains an outer layer which contains a silicone emulsion that imparts enhanced tackiness to the gripping surface.

Regarding the problem of handling adhesive tapes while wearing gloves U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,444 issued to Figlia et. al. on Apr. 21, 1987, discloses an improved surgical glove that contains a smooth latex skin coated onto the front surface so that surgical tape will not stick thereto. Also taught are textured contoured flaps that can be used to cover completely this latex skin to improve grip. U.S. Pat. Appl. No. 2001/0034893, by Martin, discloses an improved glove design that allows medical tape to be applied while lessening the probability of the medical tape sticking to the glove.

The above art does not completely address the issue of handling pressure sensitive adhesive tapes or other pressure sensitive adhesive coated products while wearing gloves, nor do they provide sufficient teaching to enable preparation of a glove that is adapted to facilitate handling medical and other pressure sensitive adhesive tapes without the inconvenience and difficulty associated with the pressure sensitive adhesives of such tapes aggressively sticking to the glove material, thus potentially damaging the glove and deteriorating the performance of the tapes. Thus there is a need for a medical glove that has been adapted to contact pressure sensitive adhesives, such as the pressure sensitive adhesive of medical tapes, wound dressing, and electrodes, and readily be removed from these pressure-sensitve-adhesives with reduced distortion and potential for tearing of the glove. Additionally there is a need for a medical glove that has been adapted to handle medical tapes while resulting in a minimal reduction in the subsequent holding power of the adhesive of the tape. Additionally there is a need for a glove that is adapted to reduce the inconvenience that can arise when handling pressure-sensitive-adhesive tapes compared to current gloves.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of this invention is to provide a glove that exhibits a reduced adhesive bond to the pressure sensitive adhesives of medical tapes and other pressure sensitive adhesive coated products that are typically handled while wearing gloves.

A further object of this invention is to provide gloves adapted to have a low-adhesion exterior surface such that handling pressure sensitive adhesive coated products, such as medical tapes, is more convenient for people required to wear gloves while handling such pressure sensitive adhesive containing products.

A further object of this invention is to provide a glove that has been adapted to contact the pressure sensitive adhesive of medical tapes and be removed from these pressure sensitive adhesives without significantly deteriorating the holding power of the adhesive.

A further object of this invention is to provide a glove that has been adapted to make it easier to remove any pressure sensitive adhesive product that comes into either intentional or unintentional contact with the glove.

A further object of this invention is to provide gloves adapted to have a low-adhesion exterior surface such that handling pressure sensitive adhesive containing products, such as medical tapes, is more convenient for people required to wear gloves while handling such pressure sensitive adhesive containing products and such that the surface of the pressure sensitive adhesive, wherever contacted by the glove either intentionally or unintentionally, can be removed from contact with the glove without contaminating the surface of the pressure sensitive adhesive to an extent that significantly deteriorates the subsequent performance of the tape.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a method for making gloves adapted to handle pressure sensitive adhesive tapes by providing gloves with a low-adhesion exterior surface.

These objects of the invention are achieved by providing gloves with an outside surface adapted to enable pressure sensitive adhesive tapes, and other pressure sensitive adhesive coated products, to contact the glove and be removed with peel forces low enough to minimize the risk of glove damage and the difficulty of removing the tape from the glove. Typical examination, and other medical, gloves are produced with synthetic or natural rubber based materials.

It has been found that by providing a low-adhesion layer on the exterior surface of such gloves that the difficulties associated with handling pressure sensitive adhesive tapes while wearing the gloves is greatly reduced. The problems associated with handling pressure sensitive adhesive medical tapes are based on the fact that the pressure sensitive adhesives of such tapes tend to form relatively aggressive adhesive bonds to the materials used in conventional medical gloves and general utility plastic gloves. When someone wearing such gloves needs to utilize a medical tape, for example to tape a wound dressing onto a patient, it is typically necessary to tear a piece of the tape off of a roll of the tape. To do this it is typical to grasp the end of the tape between the forefinger and the thumb of one gloved hand while holding the roll in the other. This act of grasping the end of the tape causes either the thumb or forefinger to contact the pressure sensitive adhesive of the tape, thus creating an adhesive bond between the tape and the glove material wherever the glove material contacts the pressure sensitive adhesive. When the piece of tape has been severed from the roll of tape it is then typically applied to the skin of the patient. For example, for the use of holding an IV tube in place, the tube is placed under a piece of tape while the tape is applied to the skin of the patient. The difficulties described above that can arise when handling pressure sensitive adhesive tapes can also arise when handling other pressure sensitive adhesive coated products such as electrodes, and bandages, while wearing gloves. In such products while it is not typically necessary to cut or tear a piece of the material for use it is typically necessary to remove a piece of liner material that protects the adhesive in the package, which can lead to the kind of untoward contact of the adhesive to the glove as described above for pressure sensitive adhesive tapes.

Often in placing the piece of tape on the patient not only is the end of the piece of tape that was initially grasped to remove the piece from the roll still in contact with the glove material but often the other end of the piece of tape is also grasped, with the other gloved hand, resulting in the pressure sensitive adhesive of both ends of the piece of tape being contacted by the gloves. To complete the action of placing the tape on the skin of the patient, or other surface, it is necessary to break the adhesive bond formed between the pressure sensitive adhesive of the tape and the gloves wherever the gloves are in contact with the adhesive. This typically involves pulling the glove material away from the pressure sensitive adhesive. In doing this the glove material can be damaged. The degree of difficulty in removing the glove from the adhesive depends on the strength of the adhesive bond that needs to be broken, which in turn depends upon several factors, including how firmly the glove material had been pressed onto the adhesive, the area of the contact, and the length of time the glove was in contact with the adhesive as well as the chemical nature of the pressure sensitive adhesive, the thickness of the pressure sensitive adhesive, and the composition of the exterior surface of the glove. The difficulty in breaking this bond between the pressure sensitive adhesive of the tape and the glove is an annoyance for the medical worker and can lead to needing to replace the gloves if a glove is damaged or torn by the tape. Due to the highly flexible nature of typical medical tapes it sometime happens that the piece of tape, once separated from the roll of tape, flexes causing areas of the pressure sensitive adhesive to come into inadvertent contact with the glove. For example the piece of tape that is being held by one end, between the thumb and fore finger of a gloved hand, can fold or flex in a manner that causes the pressure sensitive adhesive to contact the glove in another area, such as the back of the fore finger or the back of the other fingers of the same hand. When this happens it is very difficult to remove the tape from the glove and the end result is usually that the piece of tape and the glove are ruined and discarded together. When a piece of tape does come into inadvertent contact with unintended areas of a glove the difficulty in removing the tape from the glove is exacerbated by the difficulty of grasping the tape with the other gloved hand to initiate peeling it away from the glove. This is particularly difficult due to the highly flexible nature of the glove material, the thin and flexible nature of many medical tapes, and the difficulty associated with grasping a thin flat corner of the tape once it is adhered to the glove to initiate peeling the tape away from the glove. When it happens that the pressure sensitive adhesive of an end of the tape comes into inadvertent contact with a glove, the difficulties of removing the tape can be made greater by any attempts to pull the tape off of the glove by pulling on the tape in the plane of the tape rather than by attempting to peel the tape off of the glove. Such in-plane forces, or shear forces, exerted on the tape can tend to distort the glove and can increase the strength of the inadvertent pressure sensitive adhesive to glove bond, making it even more difficult to remove the tape from the glove. The gloves of the present invention overcome this type of problem by making it relatively easy to initiate a peeling action and minimizing the forces needed to completely peel the tape off of the glove. The areas of the outside surface of a glove that are likely to come into either intended or inadvertent contact with the adhesive of tapes when using such tapes includes all areas of the outside surface of the gloves covering the hand between the wrist and the tips of the fingers, including the tips of the fingers.

Another problematic aspect of handling pressure sensitive adhesive tapes while wearing gloves is that the performance of the tape itself can be deteriorated as a result of creating and then breaking a relatively aggressive adhesive bond between the glove and the areas of the adhesive that was contacted by the glove. The deterioration of the performance of the pressure sensitive adhesive tape itself can be much worse if there is any contamination of the surface of the adhesive by any transfer of material from the glove to the surface of the adhesive. Thus it is important that the low-adhesion layer on the outside surface of the gloves of the current invention not transfer to the surface of the pressure sensitive adhesive of the tape when removing the glove from contact with this pressure sensitive adhesive to an extent that can significantly impact the performance of the pressure sensitive adhesive.

There is a wide range of pressure sensitive adhesives used in medical tapes, athletic tapes, and other pressure sensitive adhesive containing products that are used in environments requiring the people handling these products to wear gloves. Similarly there is a wide range of pressure sensitive adhesive performance associated with such products. These pressure sensitive adhesives can differ in their chemical composition and thickness. Examples of the types of adhesives used on medical tapes, and other products, that are used in environments requiring the people using these products to wear gloves, include adhesives based on natural rubber, adhesives based on synthetic rubbers, and adhesives based on acrylic polymers. Within each family or chemical type of adhesive the performance is further varied by the thickness of the adhesive and the exact composition. Some medical tapes are designed to be able to be removed from substrates to which they have been adhered with relatively low peel force, while other tapes are designed to exhibit a relatively high peel force when being removed from substrates to which they have been adhered. The problems that can be encountered in handling pressure sensitive adhesive tapes while wearing gloves are typically worse when handling tapes that are designed to exhibit relatively high peel forces. Herein the terms pressure sensitive adhesive and adhesive are used interchangeably.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1. is a perspective view of a glove according to the invention.

FIG. 2. is a cross-sectional view of a section of the glove of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1. shows a glove 1 of the invention in place on the hand of a user. The glove has a thumb portion and four finger portions and is adapted to fit closely on the hand of a user. FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of the glove 1 showing the glove body 5, the outside surface of the glove body 4, a low-adhesion layer 3 positioned on the outside surface of the glove body, and a low-adhesion exterior surface 2 on the side of the low-adhesion layer 3 facing away from the glove body 5. Also shown in FIG. 2 is the inside surface 6 of the glove body, which is the side of the glove body that faces the hand of the person wearing the glove, and an inside donning layer 7 positioned on the inside surface of the glove body. Also shown in FIG. 2 is the glove body facing surface 8 of the low-adhesion layer 3. The low-adhesion exterior surface 2 is the surface which contacts objects or patients being handled by the person wearing the glove.

The glove body 5 can be prepared with any material suitable for the intended use of the glove, such as a natural or synthetic elastics for stretchy medical gloves that are designed to fit tight to the skin of the hand, or an inelastic polymeric material, such as polypropylene, polyethylene, or other polyolefin, for disposable general utility gloves. Specific elastomeric materials commonly used to prepare such gloves include natural rubber latex, synthetic nitrile rubber, and vinyl materials.

The donning layer of medical gloves serves the purpose of allowing the glove to be readily pulled onto the hand of the user. Without a donning layer it can be very difficult to put on elastic medical gloves that are designed for a tight form-fitting fit about the hand and fingers of the wearer. There are many known donning layers for such gloves, including various powders, such a starch powder, and hydrogel based coatings. For non-elastic gloves that are not tight fitting such donning layers may not be necessary. Many utility gloves, both elastic and inelastic have inner layers of fibers, such as a flocked surface or a cotton inner lining that serves the purpose of a donning layer.

The low-adhesion layer 3 can be any material that can form a thin, flexible, and stable layer on the outside surface 4 of the glove body 5 and that exhibits sufficiently low adhesion properties to the types of pressure sensitive adhesives used on medical and other pressure sensitive adhesive tapes. A stable layer is defined as a layer that does not transfer from the glove to the pressure sensitive adhesive of a medical tape to an extent that reduced the peel performance of the tape to below about 75% of the expected performance, i.e. the performance of the tape that has not contacted the glove. In this context the performance of the tape refers to the peel force required to remove the tape from the surface of a substrate to which it has been adhered. Typical substrates for characterizing the peel force of a tape include steel, glass, and various films. We have found that suitable low-adhesion layers for the gloves of the present invention are those that allow medical tapes to be attached to the outside surface of the gloves and then removed with a force required to remove the tape of less than about 4 Newtons, preferably less than about 1.65 Newtons, and more preferable less than about 0.89 Newtons per every 2 inches of tape width. It is important that the material selected for the low-adhesion layer not only be capable of forming a thin flexible layer on the outside surface of the glove body but also that it forms a layer that is well anchored to the glove body and does not transfer significant amounts of material to the surface of any pressure sensitive adhesives coming into contact with the low-adhesion layer of the gloves. Otherwise the performance of the pressure sensitive adhesive could be significantly reduced. We have found that suitable low-adhesion layers are those that when a piece of medical tape is applied to and then removed from, the outside surface of a glove of the present invention that the performance of the pressure sensitive adhesive remains at least about 75% of its original performance. Examples of low-adhesion materials found suitable to prepare the low-adhesion layer of the gloves of the present invention include cross-linkable silicone polymers such as reactive siloxane polymers. We have found that one type of suitable composition for preparing the low-adhesion layer 3 of gloves of the present invention are those based on a reactive siloxane polymer, such as Syl-Off 23, which is a reactive siloxane polymer supplied as a xylene solution at 30% solids, available from the Dow Corning Corporation of Midland Mich. When this siloxane polymer solution is mixed with an organotin complex catalyst, such as Dow Corning 176 Catalyst, also available from the Dow Corning Corporation, and an aminofunctional siloxane material such as Sly-Off 2-7131, which serves to accelerate curing, i.e. crosslinking, and the mixture diluted to the range of about 0.05% to about 2.0% solids with appropriate solvents that the resulting solution can be used to prepare coatings on the outside surface of gloves to provide a low-adhesion layer that when dried and cured yields a controlled adhesion glove of the present invention. Another example of suitable compositions for preparing the low-adhesion layer 3 of gloves of the present invention are those comprising a polycarbamate. This type of composition does not involve cross-linking a polymer once coated onto the surface of the glove body. An example of such a material is Escoat P-20 available from the Polyad Company of Barrington, Ill.

The low-adhesion layer 3 can be applied to the outside surface 4 of the glove body 5 by any suitable process. Such processes include dip coating and spray coating of a solution or emulsion of the material that comprises the low-adhesion layer 3. The application method should provide complete coverage of the outside surface 4 of the glove body 5, at least from the area of the glove that would overlay the wrist of a wearer to the tips of the fingers and thumb of glove 1.

The application method preferably does not apply the low-adhesion layer to the inside surface or donning layer of the glove. In this context low-adhesion materials refer to any material that can be dissolved or emulsified and coated onto the outside surface of a glove to yield a low-adhesion layer that has a low-adhesion exterior surface to which the peel force of medical tapes is less than about 4 Newtons and for which the peel force a tape applied to and peeled off of the low-adhesion layer is at least about 75% of its original performance. In this context the low-adhesion exterior surface is defined as a surface to which the peel force of standard pressure sensitive adhesive medical tapes, and other pressure sensitive adhesive tapes, is less than about 4 Newtons, preferably less than about 1.65 Newtons, and more preferably less than about 0.89 Newtons for two inch wide tapes.

In some instances it is beneficial to include a separate bonding or tie layer between the glove body 5 and the low-adhesion layer 3 to provide a firm anchorage of the low-adhesion layer to the glove body.

The inner layer 7 of the glove serves the purpose of facilitating donning the glove onto the hand of the user. Numerous donning layers have been described in the art.

It has been found that if the peel force of a pressure sensitive adhesive medical tape to the low-adhesion exterior surface of a glove of the present invention, as measured in the test method described below, is less than about 4 Newtons that it is possible to readily remove the tape from the glove surface, using a gloved hand to remove the tape.

Thus for gloves of the present invention it is preferred that the peel force of the types of medical tapes mentioned below, in the Examples and Testing section, to the glove, as measured by the method described below, is preferably less than about 4 Newtons, more preferably less than about 1.65 Newtons, and most preferably less than about 0.89 Newtons when tested with a two inch wide tape.

For the gloves of the invention it is preferred that the peel force of a medical tape to the low-adhesion exterior surface be less than about 70%, and more preferably less than about 30%, and most preferably less than about 20%, of what the peel force would be to the glove body in the absence of the low-adhesion layer.

Examples and Testing:

Solution 1: Solution 1 was prepared by mixing 50 ml of reagent grade toluene, 50 ml of reagent grade isopropyl alcohol, 25 grams of Syl-Off 23-30 (available from Dow-Corning Co. of Midland Mich.), 7.5 ml of catalyst (product number 176 also available from Dow Corning), and 3.75 ml of Syl-Off 2-7131 Fast Cure Additive (also available from Dow-Corning Co.) and enough reagent grade heptane to bring the total volume to 1 liter. This mixture was stirred for 30 minutes at which time the materials appeared completely dissolved.

Solution 2: Solution 2 was prepared by mixing 250 ml of Solution 1 and 500 ml of reagent grade heptane.

Solution 3: Solution 3 was prepared by mixing 5 grams of Escoat P-20 and 1 liter of reagent grade toluene. This mixture was heated to 30 degrees C. and held at this temperature and stirred for 12 hours at which time the material appeared completely dissolved.

Solution 4: A solution was prepared by mixing 2 grams of Escoat P-20 and 1 liter of reagent grade toluene. This mixture was heated to 30 degrees C. and held at this temperature and stirred for 12 hours at which time the material appeared completely dissolved. For the following examples two common types of medical gloves were used.

Glove 1: A disposable latex glove (Exam-Perfect non-sterile, single use, powder free, polymer coated, non-chlorinated examination gloves distributed by Preventive Care Inc, 15215 Boulder Trail, Rosemount, Minn.)

Glove 2: A disposable nitrile rubber (Fisherbrand Nitrile Examination gloves, textured grip, powder free, non-sterile single use gloves manufactured for Fisher Scientific of Pittsburgh, Pa.).

EXAMPLE 1

Glove 1 was fitted onto a hand shaped cardboard form and dipped into Solution 1 for 5 seconds. The entire outside surface of the glove was coated in this manner except a margin of about 1 centimeter around the cuff of the glove. The glove was then removed from the solution and dried for 3 minutes in a fume hood at room temperature and was then placed into an oven set at 100 degrees C. for 6 minutes. The glove was then removed from the oven and taken off of the cardboard form and placed aside for testing.

EXAMPLE 2

was prepared as Example 1, except using Solution 2.

EXAMPLE 3 Was prepared using the procedure described for Example 1 except that Glove 2 was used. EXAMPLE 4

Was prepared using the procedure described for Example 3 except that Solution 2 was used.

EXAMPLE 5

Was prepared using the procedure described for Example 1 except that Solution 3 and glove 2 was used.

EXAMPLE 6

Was prepared using the procedure described for Example 1 except that Solution 4 and Glove 2 was used.

Control 1: Was prepared using the procedure for Example 1 except that rather than solution 1 the glove was dipped into a mixture of 50 ml of reagent grade toluene, 50 ml of reagent grade isopropyl alcohol, and 900 ml of reagent grade toluene.

Control 2: Was prepared using the procedure for control 1 except that Glove 2 was used.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 1

Was prepared by spraying Glove 1 with Heavy Duty Silicone Lubricant, manufactured by Lubrimatic Company, of Dixon, Ill. This is a lubricant containing heptane, hexane, propane, and polydimethylsiloxane (CAS #63148-62-9). The glove placed on the cardboard hand form and was sprayed to provide a light coating of the lubricant on the outside surface of the glove. It was then dried for 15 minutes at room temperature. The glove was then taken off of the cardboard form and placed aside for testing.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 2

Was prepared using the procedure of Comparative Example 1, except Glove 2 was used. TABLE 1 Summary of Examples Examples Solution Solution Type Glove Glove Type Example 1 1 Silicone 1 Latex Example 2 2 Silicone 1 Latex Example 3 1 Silicone 2 Nitrile Example 4 2 Silicone 2 Nitrile Example 5 3 Urethane 2 Nitrile Example 6 4 Urethane 2 Nitrile Testing:

Peel Testing: The peel force of tapes to the Examples, controls, and comparative examples was determined in the following manner, which is similar to the PSCT-1 peel test of the Pressure Sensitive Tape Council (a manufacturers' trade association):

A 2 inch by 6 piece of a double stick tape (adhesive on both sides with a release liner on one side), available from Intertape Polymer Group, of Sarasota, Fla.) was placed onto a 2 inch by 6 inch steel plate with the release liner facing away from the plate and the release liner was then removed. A 2 inch by 6 inch piece of each example was cut from the example gloves (using the area corresponding to the back of the hand and wrist) and the piece was placed on the exposed adhesive of the double sided tape on the steel plate, with the side of the example corresponding to the inside of the glove facing the exposed adhesive of the double stick tape. Then a 2 inch by 6 inch piece of the test tape to be used was cut from the roll of test tape and a 2 inch by 12 inch piece of polyester film was attached to the piece of test tape such that one half inch of one end of the test tape overlapped the polyester film, creating a total length of polyester film and test tape of 17.5 inches, leaving 5.5 inches by 2 inches of the adhesive of the test tape exposed. This 5.5 inches by 2 inches of exposed adhesive of the test tape was placed onto the piece of example glove previously adhered to the steel plate and rolled down with two passes of a 4.5 pound rubber roll. In this procedure the steel panel, the double-sided tape, the piece of the example glove, and the test tape were all stacked directly on top of each other such that the stack had a width of 2 inches. After the test tape was placed on the piece of example glove and rolled down it was allowed to dwell for 3 minutes and then the peel force was measured. This was done by folding back the polyester leader (180 degrees) and attaching the resulting exposed 0.5 inches of steel plate, double sided tape and example glove piece into the lower jaws of a Tensile Test Machine, Model TCD-22 by Chatilion Company, with a 4.99 kg DPS-11R load cell, and placing the free end of the polyester film into the top jaw of the Tensile Test Machine, removing any slack in the polyester leader, and peeling the first 4 inches of the test tape off of the example glove at a peel rate of 11 inches per minute and a peel angle of 180 degrees. The peel force was recorded by the Tensile Test Machine in graph form and the peel force was determined from this graph ignoring the first half inch of peel. The graph recorded the results in pounds. These results were then converted to Newtons using known conversion factors. Each example glove was tested twice and the values reported below are an average of these two peel values.

Re-adhesion testing: To determine the effect on the test tape of having been in contact with the example gloves the pieces of test tape from the peel tests were then subsequently tested for peel force against polyvinylchloride film. The pieces of test tape, after being applied to and peeled off of the example gloves and controls as described above, were placed onto 2 inch wide pieces of polyvinylchloride film with the pressure sensitive adhesive contacting the film and the side edges of the tape and the film aligned. Prior to positioning the tape onto the film 1 inch of the adhesive of one end of the tape was covered with a piece of polyester film. This sandwich was rolled down with two passes of a 4.5 pound roller. The end of the tape that was covered by the polyester film was placed into the upper jaw of a tensile test machine, Model TCD-22 by Chatilion Company, with an 11 pound DPS-11R load cell, and the free end of the polyvinylchloride film (the end that corresponds to the end of the tape where the adhesive was covered by the polyester film) was placed in the lower jaw and the tape and the film were separated at a rate of 11 inches/minute. The angle of this peel test was 180 degrees. This type of peel arrangement is sometimes referred to as a T-peel test. The peel force was recorded by the Tensile Test Machine in graph form and the peel force was determined from this graph ignoring the first half inch of peel. The graph recorded the results in pounds. These results were then converted to Newtons using known conversion factors. Each example glove was tested twice. The re-adhesion value was reported as a percent for each peel test by dividing the calculated average of the two tests by the average of two tests using fresh pieces of tape applied to the polyvinylchloride film and the same peel procedure and multiplying by 100.

Test tape 1: Test tape 1 was a 2 inch wide medical tape available from the 3M Company, Maplewood, Minn., as Micropore Surgical Tape. This tape is representative of medical tapes that exhibit a relatively low peel force to substrates to which they have been adhered.

Test tape 2: Test tape 2 was a 2 inch wide medical tape available from the Kendall Company, 15 Hampshire Street, Mansfield, Mass., as Kendall Wet-Pruf Tape. This tape is representative of medical tapes that exhibit a relatively high peel force to substrates to which they have been adhered. TABLE 2 Peel and re-adhesion test results Peel Force in Re-adhesion Peel Force in Re-adhesion Newtons % of control Newtons % of control Test Tape 1 Test Tape 1 Test Tape 2 Test Tape 2 Example 1 0.089 >75% 0.177 >75% Example 2 0.089 >75% 0.892 >75% Control 1 7.124 >75% 37.844 >75% Example 3 0.314 >80% 0.441 >80% Example 4 0.265 >80% 1.337 >80% Control 2 5.786 >80% 7.124 >80% Comparative 0.223 <10% 0.356 <10% Example 1 Comparative 0.045 <10% 0.267 <10% Example 2 Example 5 1.648 >80% Example 6 4.011 >80% Control 2 5.786 >80%

The data included in Table 2 clearly shows the dramatic reduction in the amount of force needed to remove the medical tapes from the gloves of the invention compared to the appropriate control glove. Also shown is that if the low-adhesion layer is capable of transferring to the tape that the subsequent peel performance of the tape can be dramatically reduced.

While particular embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it would be apparent to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore intended to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of this invention. 

1. A medical glove comprising: a glove with a glove body with inside and outside surfaces, a low-adhesion layer positioned on at least a portion of the outside surface of said glove body, said low-adhesion layer having a glove body facing surface and an outwardly facing exterior surface, and wherein the outwardly facing exterior surface of said low-adhesion layer further comprises a low-adhesion exterior surface to which the peel force of standard medical tapes is less than about 4 Newtons.
 2. The medical glove of claim 1 further comprising: a glove with a low-adhesion exterior surface to which the peel force of standard medical tapes is less than about 4 Newtons, and wherein the peel force is measured at a peel angle of 180 degrees and a rate of 11 inches per minute for a 2 inch wide tape.
 3. The medical glove of claim 1 wherein said peel force is less than about 1.65 Newtons.
 4. The medical glove of claim 1 wherein said peel value is less than about 0.89 Newtons.
 5. The medical glove of claim 1 wherein said low-adhesion layer comprises a siloxane polymer.
 6. The medical glove of claim 5 wherein said siloxane polymer is cross-linked.
 7. The medical glove of claim 1 wherein said low-adhesion layer comprises a polycarbamate.
 8. Glove of claim 1 wherein said glove body comprises a latex rubber.
 9. The medical glove of claim 1 wherein said glove body comprises nitrile rubber.
 10. The medical glove of claim 1 wherein said glove body comprises a vinyl material.
 11. The medical glove of claim 1 wherein the peel force of a 2 inch wide medical tape is less than about 4 Newtons and wherein the subsequent peel performance of the medical tape is at least about 75% of the peel performance of the medical tape before contact with the glove.
 12. A medical glove comprising: a glove adapted to handle pressure sensitive adhesive coated products comprising a glove with a glove body with inside and outside surfaces, a low-adhesion layer positioned on at least a portion of the outside surface of said glove body, said low-adhesion layer having a glove body facing surface and an outwardly facing exterior surface, and wherein said outwardly facing exterior surface of said low-adhesion layer further comprises a low-adhesion exterior surface, and wherein said low-adhesion layer is present in at least the areas of the outside surface of said glove body likely to come into contact with the pressure sensitive adhesive of medical tapes when handling such tapes, and wherein the peel force of the medical tapes to the exterior surface of the glove in the areas containing this low-adhesion layer is less than about 70% of what the force would be to the glove body absent said low adhesion layer.
 13. The medical glove of claim 12 wherein the peel force of the medical tapes to the exterior surface of the glove in the areas containing this low-adhesion layer is less than about 30% of what the force would be to the glove body absent said low adhesion layer.
 14. The medical glove of claim 12 wherein the peel force of the medical tapes to the exterior surface of the glove in the areas containing this low-adhesion layer is less than about 20% of what the force would be to the glove body absent said low adhesion layer.
 15. The medical glove of claim 14 wherein the low adhesion layer further comprises a siloxane polymer.
 16. A medical glove comprising: a glove with a low-adhesion exterior surface adapted to contact and be removed from the adhesive surface of a pressure sensitive adhesive tape wherein the subsequent peel value of the contacted area of the adhesive tape is greater than about 75 percent of that of the non-contacted areas of the tape.
 17. A method of producing a glove with a low-adhesion layer on the outside surface comprising the steps of (a) providing a glove with inside and outside surfaces; (b) providing a solution of a cross-linkable low-adhesion material; (c) applying the solution of the low-adhesion material onto the outside surface of the glove such that only the exterior surface of the glove is exposed to the solution; (d) drying the glove to remove the solvent from the solution; and (e) cross-linking the low-adhesion material.
 18. The method of claim 17 wherein the step of applying the solution to the outside of the glove further comprises dipping the glove into the solution of a low-adhesion material such that only the outside of the glove is exposed to the solution, and removing the glove from the solution.
 19. The method of claim 17 wherein the solution of low-adhesion material is a solution of a siloxane based polymer
 20. The method of claim 17 wherein the cross-linking step is achieved by heating.
 21. A method of producing a glove with a low-adhesion layer on the outside surface comprising the steps of: (f) providing a glove with inside and outside surfaces; (g) providing a solution of a low-adhesion material; (h) dipping the glove into the solution of the low-adhesion material such that at least a portion of the outside surface of the glove is contacted by the solution; (i) removing the glove from the solution; and (j) drying the glove.
 22. The method of claim 21 wherein the solution of low-adhesion material is a solution of a polycarbamate. 